The present invention generally relates to a food warmer and dispenser for dispensing liquid foods, such as syrups, fudges for ice cream, condiments, sandwich toppings, dairy products, and other types of liquid food products. More specifically, the present invention relates to a food warmer and dispenser that can be used to dispense liquid food products from collapsible containers, such as vacuum sealed plastic bags.
Currently available liquid food product dispensers typically include an open interior that receives a supply of the food product. The food product, such as nacho cheese, syrups and toppings for ice cream, is poured from a storage container, such as a can, into the open interior where the liquid food product is heated and dispensed through a pump assembly. While this type of liquid food warmer and dispenser has proven effective in heating and dispensing liquid food product, cleaning the food product from the inner walls of such a dispenser has proven both difficult and time-consuming.
In response to this problem, liquid food product is currently available in sealed, collapsible containers that include a fitting designed to receive a pump assembly. An example of this type of collapsible container and fitting is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,793, incorporated herein by reference. The fitting formed in the collapsible container of food product is positioned near one end of the container such that the force of gravity causes the food product to collect near the fitting when the container is positioned in the dispenser. Although this type of warmer and dispenser functions well to dispense the liquid food product, a significant amount of food product in the container below the fitting is unrecoverable and thus wasted.
In addition to the problem of unrecovered food product from each collapsible container, currently available liquid food warmers and dispensers hold only a single container of food product at a time. Thus, when the collapsible container of food product currently in the dispenser is emptied, the container must be replaced by a full container of food product. However, replacement containers are typically stored at room temperature and must be preheated within the warmer prior to dispensing. This is a serious drawback when utilizing the food warmer and dispenser in a high volume applications.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined food product warmer and dispenser that can remove a high percentage of the food product contained within a collapsible container. It is an additional object of the invention to provide a food product warmer and dispenser that includes an open interior including a storage area and a dispensing area that can each simultaneously receive a container of food product. Further, it is an object of the invention to provide a food warmer configured to allow a collapsible container of food product in the dispensing area to be dispensed while a second collapsible container of food product in the storage area can simultaneously be preheated to the operating temperature.
It is a further object of the invention to utilize the stored collapsible container of food product to exert a force on the collapsible container of food product currently being dispensed to aid in extracting the food product contained within the collapsible container. Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a movable pressure paddle in the open interior of the dispenser to divide the open interior into the storage area and the dispensing area. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an opening in the pressure paddle such that the fitting contained within the collapsible container of food product can pass through the opening such that the pressure paddle can move into contact with the front wall of the open interior.